{"id":148820,"date":"2022-10-24T22:23:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T03:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/frequency-comb-measures-quantum-interference"},"modified":"2022-10-24T22:23:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T03:23:54","slug":"frequency-comb-measures-quantum-interference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/frequency-comb-measures-quantum-interference","title":{"rendered":"Frequency Comb Measures Quantum Interference"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

A multiwavelength laser source known as a frequency comb provides a new technique for atom interferometry, potentially leading to new tests of fundamental physics.<\/p>\n

In atom interferometry, researchers use the interference of quantum waves of matter, often for high-precision experiments testing fundamental physics principles. A research team has now demonstrated a new way to produce matter-wave interference by using a frequency-comb laser\u2014a comb-like set of spectral lines at regularly spaced frequencies [1<\/a>]. The comb allowed the team to generate interference in a cloud of cold atoms. The method might ultimately be used to investigate differences between matter and antimatter.<\/p>\n

According to the weak equivalence principle, gravity must cause both matter and antimatter to fall at the same rate (see the graphical explanation, The Equivalence Principle under a MICROSCOPE<\/i><\/a>). Deviations from this principle could point to explanations for the hitherto mysterious imbalance in the amounts of matter and antimatter in the Universe. Atom interferometry could provide a test of weak equivalence through precise measurements of the free fall of antihydrogen. So far, light-based control of atom interferometry has used continuous-wave (cw) lasers [2<\/a>], which can\u2019t easily be extended to the short wavelengths in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) that are needed for such studies of antihydrogen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A multiwavelength laser source known as a frequency comb provides a new technique for atom interferometry, potentially leading to new tests of fundamental physics. In atom interferometry, researchers use the interference of quantum waves of matter, often for high-precision experiments testing fundamental physics principles. A research team has now demonstrated a new way to produce [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,1617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-particle-physics","category-quantum-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}